Transcript Ecclesiology 2 2013

Ecclesiology
So what is church ?
The new Christian community in which the walls
are broken down not by human legalism or
democratic legalism but by the work of Christ
is not only a vehicle of the gospel or only a fruit
of the gospel; it is the good news. It is not merely the
agent of mission or the constituency of a mission
agency. This is mission.
John Howard Yoder, The Royal Priesthood, 1994
Prayer and Support
Listening
and
Following
God’s call
Loving
Service
Forming
Community
Evangelism and
DiscipleMaking
Connection
Evolving
Public
Worship
Missional Church
‘With the term missional we emphasise the
essential nature and vocation of the church
as Gods called and sent people.’
Darrell Guder, Missional Church,
A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America
Missional Church
Church is missional by its very nature.
It is not a thing the church
does but it is why church is.
Missional Church
Three key concepts
1. The Missio Dei
Missio Spiritus
The Trinity
2. Kingdom of God
3. Incarnation
Missional Church
The church is not a collection of individuals who choose to
associate primarily to have their spiritual needs met or to do
some good in the world. Rather the church is a community
of mutual participation in Gods own life and the life of the
world- a participation characterised by openness to others.
Just as the Trinity's interdependent , communal life is
generative and outward reaching in love, so too must the
church's life be focused towards others and the world.
Craig Van Gelder.
Missional Church
Three key concepts
1. The Missio Dei
Missio Spiritus
The Trinity
2. Kingdom of God
3. Incarnation
The gospel’s transforming impact on
culture is constantly in
tension with the cultures reductionistic
influence on the gospel.
Darrell Guder
‘How can we seek to re-imagine what it means to
be the Church and create new communities if we lack
the language and ability to talk and reflect about
what it means to be the Church in dialogue with
Scripture and our tradition.’
Steven Croft, Mapping Ecclesiology for a mixed
economy in Mission Shaped Questions.
“ If a fresh expression can
properly be said to be ‘a church’
then it must contain the fullness
of the universal Church and thus
contain everything that is required
to sustain a spiritual & sacramental
life in communion with other
churches.”
“ The situation in which these doctrinal
standards were originally formulated,
was very different to that facing the
Church today.
The contemporary context of Christian
mission in Britain calls for a radical
departure from the past in favour of
an innovative theological understanding
of the Church and its mission.’
p10.
Eight criteria for ‘proper’ Church.
p181
1. Community of people called by God
2. Regularly worships and is sent out in mission
3. Gospel is proclaimed
4. Scripture preached and taught
5. Baptism
6. Holy Communion
7. Authorised ministry for Lords Supper
8. Connected to wider church through various ways
‘There is no single authorized source that
contains a comprehensive statement of the Church
of England’s official teaching concerning
the nature of the Church itself.’
p91
Enduring Marks
Jesus focus
Jesus followers
Holy
“UP”
“OUT” Apostolic
Catholic “OF”
“IN”
Four linked
Journeys
OHCA
One
Church is any
expression of the life
of Jesus in
communal form
“ The church is comprised of four sets
of relationships centred on Jesus,
to the Godhead, between members of the
local church, to the world and
between each part and the whole body.’
p106.
Church as four sets of relationships.
up
of
out
in
‘
Moynagh, Church for Every Context p 106.
1. A large city centre church has started a student congregation.
2.A church which has two congregations which meet in the same premises
at the same time – one using English, the other using Korean…….
3. A congregation that meets in the school hall
at 3.30 pm on Monday afternoons in order to reach parents/carers and their children.
4. People can log onto a cyber-church to receive teaching and pastoral advice,
leave prayer requests and share in discussion.
5.An Christian organisation has started a meeting for
prostitutes and drug addicts who have been converted through their work.
6.An evangelist is starting a ‘walkers church’ – a monthly hike with
Christian meditations en route
7.A gathering in a pub organised by a pioneer after playing football together
which includes eating together and prayer
8. A church founded by a Nigerian pastor to reach Nigerians in the City centre
Basic questions of church
1. Who?
2. What?
3. Why?
Maybe we should ask
Where from?
Where to ?
Four voices of theology
1. What people on the ground say. Espoused
2.What is practised and experienced. Operant
3.Scripture and the tradition. Normative
4.Theological voices from the academy. Formal
Concrete Church
‘ The identity of the concrete church is not simply
given, it is constructed and ever reconstructed
by the grace enabled activities of its members
as they embody the church practices, beliefs
and values.’
Nicholas Healy
Where from ?
•The Body of Christ
•Pentecost
•The Trinity
Where to ?
Following Jesus - disciple
Pilgrims- alien
Eschaton- mystery of the future
•Unity in freedom
•Catholic in partianship
•Holiness in poverty
•Apostolic in suffering
Organised
One
Holy
Catholic
Apostolic
Organic
Diverse
Charismatic
Local
Prophetic
Howard Synder , Decoding the Church. Baker Books
“ The missionary church will not aim to spread
its own form. It is not a subsidiary of the old one.
It is a ‘new church’ of the same apostolate. It
preserves its unity when it fulfils Christ’s
apostolic mission to its own historical situation.”
“ the theological doctrine of the church
cannot be simply expressed in abstract terms
about the churches timeless nature. It will
have to provide points of departure for
reforming the church, for giving it a more
authentic form. Faithfulness and the fresh
start are not antitheses in
the history of the Spirit.”
• A retrospective ecclesiology
• A reconciling community
• Foretaste of the Kingdom
• A reconciling unity
“The very essence of church life is that she is pressing
forward to the fulfilment of God’s purpose……
pressing forward to the ends of the earth and the end
of the world.”